The present invention relates generally to a distribution conveyor system. More specifically, the invention relates to a conveyor system which evenly distributes a flow of products to a multiplicity of downstream lines from a plurality of infeed lines which supply a flow of products which may be either uniform or random. Accordingly, the general object of the present invention is to provide novel and improved apparatus and method of such character.
In the numerous industrial situations involving production lines, a plurality of upstream sources provide product units which are delivered to a multiplicity of downstream stations which further handle the articles or which package the articles for ultimate disposition, such as shipment. Maximum efficiency is obtained when the products originating from the plurality of upstream stations are uniformly distributed to the multiplicity of downstream stations so that all downstream equipment operate at design capacity rather than being either overloaded or being inadequately supplied. It has previously been known to converge the flow of products from a plurality of upstream stations into a single flow and to diverge the flow of products into a multiplicity of downstream lines for delivery to the multiplicity of downstream stations.
Problems have been known to arise in prior art solutions to this merge and diverge task, however, in that merging device is prone to jamming caused by the interference of two of the articles with one another in the coverging process. In devices having moving mechanical guides such as swing gates, the moving parts, such as the pivotal bearings, are subject to wear and early failure and the swing gates may crush a product unit if the unit is not precisely positioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,748 issued Nov. 27, 1973, discloses a merging conveyor which avoids these mechanical problems caused by mechanical push directors by relying on a conveyor having transversely translatable slider supports on which the product units rest and which themselves alternately converge from two lines to a single line. This device is subject to the difficulty that a product unit may be pushed off of the slider supports either by another unit from the other line or by one of the sliders which may catch on the edge of the product unit during the merging motion as the sliders from one line are slid under the product units of the other line. A similar device is shown in FIG. 11 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,782 issued May 8, 1973.
These and other prior art devices and combinations thereof are not capable of providing a smoothly and efficiently operating system which is equipped to deal with the additional problems of random flow from the plurality of upstream stations as well as failure of one of the downstream stations resulting in one of the multiplicity of receiving stations being unable to accept a continuing flow of products. In such situations, it is desirable to have a distribution system which continues to accept whatever articles are available from the upstream sources and which continues to deliver an even and uniform flow of articles to those remaining downstream stations which are able to accept a product flow.
In prior art distribution systems, the backup of products in one discharge lane would ultimately cause the distribution system to shut down, thereby terminating the flow of products to all downstream stations including those stations which are capable of continued operation. Thus, all of the downstream equipment, as well as the upstream equipment, would have to lie idle until the problem with the backed up lane was cured. Inefficient overall operation of both the down and upstream equipment was the unavoidable result.